I'm planning on reading the Odyssey and Illiad, is it a good or bad idea to read them in the Samuel Butler translation or do I absolutely have to read it in poetic form?
~le daily homer translation thread~
You don't have to read it in poetic form, but you should. Go for Fitzgerald, Fagles, or Lattimore.
>>8177747
What are the benefits to reading it in poetic from over prose?
>>8177798
Authenticity and more beautiful language, of course
Translations are for lazy philistines. Learn to read it in the original Archaic Greek or go home. You have ample time and resources. There's no excuse.
>>8177819
>Authenticity and more beautiful language
but they're all translations anyway
>>8177734
Butler's translation is great for plot but there's a few things you should take note of: he re-orders some sections for easier reading, so if you want to refer to a section by number, most poetic translations are going to be further out; there's no lists of ships, which is often a plus to many people but if you like shipping news might be a downer; you can read more than one book on the same subject.
Lattimore and Butler together are a great idea, because Lattimore tries to get the word sound of the poetry right and close to the Greek line order, if not the meter, while Butler tries to explain the story without having to worry about form.
If you want to go the learn Greek route, Pharr's Homeric Greek is the standard babby's first.
